20 Trans Women And Men Share The Most Surprising Thing They Encountered While Transitioning.

1/20. Clitoral growth. Once again heard about it, but not about how fast it happens, or how else it changes. Today, after 6 months on testosterone, it's about 2 inches, which I didn't even think would be possible on hormones alone. Also, did you know that they can get erections as well? Because I sure didn't. I sure had a few fun times in class where my pants would rub against it and I would have to shift around in my chair to adjust, lest I be distracted by the inadvertent pleasuring.

2/20. Other girls asking me for tampons, and then literally never having one to spare.ShakeBunny100489

3/20. Arousal changes in the weirdest way to describe idk if this is what genetic girls feel like or if its just a random surprise for trans folk.

As a normal guy when I'd get aroused it would just be " oh I feel my dick getting hard, i wanna press it into stuff!" feeling. On estrogen as MTF its super weird when you first get it, instead of being focused on your genitalia completely I get like a tingly feeling from my stomach all the way to my butt and it gives you a kind of 'achey' feeling, the first few times I thought I had to pee.

When I first noticed it was driving around for my job and my mind would wander to something sexual and id feel the tingle feeling and id be like 'oh i must have to pee' only never did. Took me several several times before i finally pinpointed the difference, when something feels a certain way for so long then it suddenly changes like that its so surreal. Also nipples go from feeling like your elbow to like someones touching you 'down there' so to speak. Which is a pretty bizarre connection?

It's like someone scratching your arm and your feeling it in your toes. Only nipples and genitalia.PillowPumpkin

4/20. I didn't expect all the support I got. When I started transition, I was attending high school in a conservative, religious suburban town in the Deep South. I was worried that I'd be bullied or attacked, but everyone was awesome. The administration didn't give me any problems about bathrooms, my classmates used my new name and pronouns without a hitch, and students I didn't even know came up to me in the hallway to congratulate me. I was blown away by how positive the whole experience was.thecarolinakid

5/20. I wasn't expecting hormones to change my sexuality. I was hot for any gender going in, but now it's like 99% guys. Getting 2 inches shorter (changes in the curvature of the spine) was also a surprise.Girl_in_a_whirl

6/20. My skin produces much less sweat/oil now. I used to smell myself after a few hours if I forgot to put on deodorant, but now it hardly matters. I still try not to forget though, just in case. Girl_in_a_whirl

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7/20. This is definitely less about overall trans experience and more about my personal situation, but I was not expecting how very "Boys Club" it would be.

I used to be fine with cold weather. If I had something to do outside, and it was 15F, I'd still be fine walking out in shorts, a t-shirt, and flip-flops. In the winter I would usually set my thermostat around 63 when I was awake, lower when asleep.

After 7 months on estrogen? Fuck that! Anything less than 67 and I NEED to be wearing long pants and a jacket at the very least. Temperatures in general feel about 10 degrees colder than they used to, but in addition to that, it's almost like my body has gained an entirely new and completely unpleasant sense. Cold feels totally different now and it's TERRIBLE.goshfeckingdarnit

9/20. I'm not rich, but I work and volunteer in positions that frequently have me in contact with very well-off people. I also live in an area with a mix of rural low-to-mid income and high-income places.

As soon as I started presenting as a guy, it's like everyone got friendlier. Rich, poor. They've all got some easy conversation to start with me. It's a real nice kind of socializing, I think, I mean I like it...except everyone assumes you share their views.

Being white and interpreted as a straight, monogamous, cisgender, Christian (or Jewish, I get that a lot) young man is like having grease on your wheels, if you know what I mean? I mean I can go anywhere and people assume I belong.transnavigation

10/20. I was completely unprepared for the emotional changes. Once I began treatment I became incredibly sensitive and empathetic. Ever giggle at girls that cry at commercials, gifts, a cute kitten? Yeah that's me now. I was nowhere near this emotional before, but now, even years later, emotions just seem more powerful.Egon_Universe

11/20. Male to Female here

The main thing I wasn't expecting at all is having to re-learn how to be friends with all my old friends - a lot of them felt like my personality changed a lot, even though I was really just acting more like my actual self.

I wasn't able to be the rock when my friends were upset as well, because I felt so emotionally connected it was draining.

I had a long period where I was acting SUPER bitchy from hormones, and didn't realize it, even saying that I knew when it the hormones and when I was rightfully upset (I did not) until a friend sat me down and was like "dude, its the hormones and that's okay, but stop"

I wasn't expecting to find myself attractive in pictures before my transition, that's a super awkward feeling to admit lol

on that same note, I feel like I sometimes miss that person that I used to be and I wish so much that that person could still exist in some form, just not me? An odd feeling.Violetbubble222

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12/20. Sexual harassment and catcalling: I went into this knowing full well that women experience sexual harassment, including catcalling on the street. All my female friends had warned me. All those hashtags like YesAllWomen flew around the Internet like wildfire. I thought I knew what I was going into. mmhmmhmmhmm

13/20. I'll try to be careful since talking about gender stereotypes can be a touchy subject, but I've seen a lot of changes from the way men and women relate to me. A lot of this could be contributed to being in the Southern United States, where we might be more traditional in gender roles and behavior, but here are some things I think changed after I transitioned.

-People seem generally more eager to help, like when I got a flat tire, or if something technological isn't working.

-Women in general seem more eager to talk about how stupid men are when none of them are around.

-There's always that one guy/kid that sends a suggestive message after hearing my voice in a video game.

-No one lets me walk around at night anymore, like it's suddenly some death wish.

14/20. Boobs hurt! They're uncomfortable as fuck. Wouldn't trade 'em for the world, but I can't even sleep face down anymore without piercing pain.mmhmmhmmhmm

15/20. Dudes, even average/shrimpy dudes, you don't realize how much testosterone helps bolster your physical strength until you lose it. When I was still pretending to be your average college-age dude, complete with average stature and average strength, I could lift and carry basically anything I wanted within reason. TVs. Furniture. Whatever. Then I decided to nuke my T from orbit. My strength evaporated in a matter of months, to the point where when I moved out of my dorm, my brothers and dad had to do all the heavy lifting of furniture and heavy boxes. Kind of embarrassing, to be honest.

I've gotten some of it back through hard work and constant training for roller derby, but it feels like a sisyphean task at times. Trying to keep even the barest amount of muscle is like

Oh, also people keep asking me if I used to play basketball or volleyball in school. I get that I'm kinda tall for a lady, but I'm still under 6 feet. Yeesh.

16/20. When you go on hormones, with the extreme changes, you become very, er, emotional. I was told about mood swings but smashing your cellphone with a wrench and then crying about not having a cellphone is something you need to live through to understand.BW_Bird

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17/20. Post operation trans woman here. No one told me I needed to learn to pee again. Seriously, I don't know how this wasn't explained to me. It's hard to describe but when you're peeing with a penis you have to focus your muscles forward. When you have a vag, you need to focus down. It took me days to get that figured out.BW_Bird

18/20. Wasn't expecting my dad who previously identified as a Republican who went to a Bible college to be the one to accept me and my mom who was liberal and an interior decorator with many gay friends to be the one to reject me. (She came around 2+ years later, but it was a full cut off until then.)the53rdcalypso

19/20. Not that I wasn't expecting it, but I didn't really understand how it feels to really be comfortable in my own body. I haven't been on hormones for toooooo too long at this point, but everyday it feels like things get a little bit better, and my acceptance of myself and my body grows with it.

It's definitely been an awesome change in a positive direction![deleted]

20/20. I'm still in the early stages, but I right now I get a lot of, "Why are you wearing makeup?" "Because I like to." (Haven't really come out to EVERYONE yet) "Oh, that's cool, bro." That's how to conversation goes 99% of the time. It's way more nonchalant of a topic to talk about for younger people. The other 1% statistically has been that awkward conversation where some older person asks about my looks and just doesn't quite get a good hold on what I saying.agressor7

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Have you ever found yourself in an argument so stupid and/or pointless that you were sure you were being punked? Like you keep looking away from the other person to check your surroundings for places Ashton Kutcher and a camera crew could come popping out of?

Brace yourselves, folks. Some of these arguments are breathtakingly bonkers. The sheer number of people who are willing to argue with someone over provable facts and what that other person likes or doesn't like is just ... stunning. It's stunning, you guys. Just not in a good way.

Saturdays

My husband and I have this thing where we only say "I love you" on Saturdays. Every other day it's "I love you, but only on Saturdays." I don't know how it started, but it's been going for 11 years now.

We're both shiftworkers, so sometimes we have to stop and think what day it actually is. We had an argument recently over whether it was Saturday or not. I said it was Saturday, he said it was Friday. It was Monday.

Iraq

I remember when I was about 13 my parents had an hour-long shouting match that ended with them almost getting divorced. The issue? Whether or not the nation of Iraq has a coastline.

My mother arguing that Iraq had a coastline, while my stepdad argued that it did not. This was back in 2004, and they are still quite happily married to this day. That incident is something they look back on and laugh about, and both of them admit it was really a pretty stupid thing to argue over.

Mini Wheats

When we were kids my brother and I got in a physical fight because he said I like mini wheats and I insisted I didn't. His argument was that I always sang the mini wheats song and I was deeply offended that he wasn't aware that it was just stuck in my head but I hated the cereal. I actually did like the cereal I'm not sure why I was arguing with him about it but I remember how genuinely angry I was.

Crayons

I'll tell you about the only legal trouble I've ever been in, the fight that got me arrested. It started over whether we should return a box of crayons or not, and to this day I don't have any idea how it escalated to the point of the cops being called, but they were and I was the one taken in.

That's Unfair

My boyfriend insisted that when two people are in an argument and one makes a point so reasonable and logical the other one can't disagree with it - it's unfair. I tried, logically and reasonably, to explain several times why that is just winning the argument, proving your point thoroughly and is completely fair.

Emailing NASA

A Non-Standard Ruler?

I worked for a company that made signs. We had a customer ask for signs that were 7mm wide that were to go on a door. Our sign makers figured the order meant inches because 7mm is pretty small, so made them 7 inches. I got a phone call from the customer who went mad at me for making them the wrong size. So I put a reorder through for 7 mm.

Argued with the sign makers over it but they eventually agreed to do it after I shown them the order in writing. I even had the customer put her complaint in writing, reiterating the size they wanted.

7mm signs went out and a day later I get the customer on the phone literally screaming at me.

Cue the dumb argument - we ended up having an argument over how big a millimetre is, and obviously everyone in the office were laughing, but this customer just wouldn't accept it and said we must be using a non-standard ruler to measure.

Ended up being escalating to the sales department manager who refused to issue a refund. We still don't know what they actually meant.

This Unusual Vegan Argument

Was in a pub with a few friends, and some random Dude dropped an ear, and somehow figured I'm vegan. Well, people like him are the reason I usually avoid mentioning it. He came up to me and insisted on starting a discussion about veganism. He claimed that by the end of it, I would be eating meat again.

He listed some stupid arguments, I told him I was not convinced and then tried to keep on drinking beer with my friends. He followed me, and wanted me to "try to convert him to a vegan." I stupidly listed some of my reasons thinking it would make him go away. He told me he still was not convinced, so I was like whatever. Again, I really just wanted to drink beer with my friends.

That dude followed me all night and expected me to try make him vegan. Doesn't matter what I said, and all the reasons that for me are obviously good enough to be vegan. He'd be just like "No, that doesn't convince me, therefore your argument and how you life is stupid."

Didn't matter how often I told him that I honestly don't care; 5 minutes later he would come up to me again "I'm still not vegan, so veganism is stupid, all your arguments were stupid, now give me a good reason to become vegan!" At one point, I was literally yelling at him that I don't give a single flying f about what he eats and why, that it's in no way my responsibility to "turn somebody vegan" and in no way his business what I eat.

Honestly, for that dude, I would have bought a whole ham, just to shove it up his stupid annoying face.

Monty Python

In college my roommate and I argued about a line in Monty Python & the Holy Grail. The scene with the Black Knight where the line "Alright, we'll call it a draw" is uttered. We argued about who said that line, whether it was King Arthur or the Black Knight.

It went on for hours longer than it should have because I was stubborn and refused to admit I was wrong.

Albert or Arnold

Below Sea Level

I live on an island and when you go upland and you look out the sea looks like it's higher than or on the same level as the land. It's just a weird perspective thing because of the horizon. One day some kid says that it's because the island is under sea level.

I'm like wtf bro all of us would be with the fishes. He argues that no that's not true and if I just go upland I'll see. We then spend a good 5 minutes of my time arguing about it until I decided to leave this kid in his stupidity. He even said we shouldn't believe everything adults tell us and sometimes we need to think for ourselves.

This kid was older than me and was going to a good school. Lost my respect for him ever since then.

Tomash

Now, my name is in a lot of languages with slightly different spellings. I would have accepted any of those spellings, but this one was just... Not even close. It didn't make any logical sense.

An analogous example is if my name was Thomas and someone was insisting it was spelled Tomash. And not just the name Thomas in general, but that me specifically, on my birth certificate, was named Tomash. I know how to spell my own name.

Whales Are Mammals

I was in an online chat room one day, and we were talking about whales. I commented on how whales are mammals and the next thing you know, someone was arguing with me and trying to convince me that a whale was a fish.

Shower Schedule

No Balloons For Grandma

My cousin and I argued over a balloon going to Heaven. We were at his big sisters prom send off and he let a balloon go and it went high into the sky.

He then said this balloon will go up past space and go to Heaven and reach grandma (God rest her soul). And I was like no it's not and it's probably not even gonna reach space. Releasing balloons is terrible for the environment and kills/harms so much wildlife.

He got really mad and defensive and started telling me to google it and do my research and I'm like I don't have to google it you idiot. He was mad at me for a good week.

Spontaneous Dolphin Existence

How dolphins reproduced. It took me a few solid minutes of explaining to her that dolphins have reproductive organs and that they did not just pop into existence. The argument began with her saying she wanted to work with sea creatures.

Personally, I hope she was messing with me cause I lost a little faith in humanity that day.

Male Chickens

Lightning McQueen

Me and my friend were drinking underage, we ended up in an argument of whether lightning McQueen's eyes were blue or green. Somehow throughout the whole thing both of us never thought to straight up google a picture.

Andre 2000?

I'm late, but I saw this question and instantly remembered that I was booted from a Facebook group because I called someone out on a lie that was not only bull, but extremely pointless. She was friends with the moderator and they made the case that my argument over such a little lie was more of a problem than the lie itself (though they didn't refer to it as a lie.)

The woman said that she used to babysit for Andre 3000 and that his name was Andre 2000 - but he changed it after the year 2000 had passed. This was so easily disproven it was ridiculous. Their debut album came out in 1994 and he was already going by Andre 3000 at that time.

The argument wasn't a huge long drawn out thing, but the fact that either of us were on Facebook at separate times meant that the responses were over a long period of time so this argument lasted a few days.

Stars Like Our Sun

Richard Nixon

I have a degree in history. I mostly focused on nationalism. Wrote a 50 page paper on it and Richard Nixon with around 50 100 sources. Looked at micro film for hours on end. Part of the paper focused on how Nixon being chair of the house committee of Unamerican Activities was used as a powerful weapon to use against political enemies. It also inspired Joe McCarthy. Have had people tell me I was wrong and Nixon was never elected to a position besides the president and Joe McCarthy came before Nixon. I stopped trying to talk history to people.

I also know quite a bit about the history of the Balkans its amazing how many Serbs refuse to believe Tito did anything wrong.

Wrote 100 page paper on nationalism in Israel. Its frustrating to talk about because for some reason a lot of people think Palestinian firing rockets randomly into Israel is ok but if Israel retaliates the people get up in arms over a targeted air strike that kills 3 people.

Balloon to Heaven

My cousin and I argued over a balloon going to Heaven. We were at his big sisters prom send off and he let a balloon go and it went high into the sky. He then said this balloon will go up past space and go to Heaven and reach grandma (God rest her soul). And I was like no it's not and it's probably not even gonna reach space.

And he got really mad and defensive and started telling me to google it and do my research and I'm like I don't have to google it you idiot. He was mad at me for a good week.

Binder Clips

I got into an argument with a co-worker over how we were attaching two pages of a letter together: small binder clips or paper clips.

He felt that paper clips would leave a "dent" in the paper when removed, but binder clips won't. He refused to staple them together. I felt that binder clips would also leave a "dent", so we might as well just use the paper clips.

It ended with him saying: "Do what you want [me], I don't care!" and storming off.

Lingerie Boxes

Late to the party, but there it is.

I'm a manager at a small store. We're only 4 working there, so my team and I grew very close and we joke around a lot. Once during a slow shift, my employee and I had an argument because we were looking at the lingerie boxes, and I thought that two specific boxes had the same woman on it, but she was 100% positive they weren't the same person.

Looking back, I don't know why it was such a big deal to us at the time, but we even called another employee who lives across the street to come and tell us what the heck was up with that. Turns out I was right, and she was pretty salty about it. It was a great night.

Wicked Witch of the West

I almost got into an argument with an old girlfriend over Glinda the good witch from Oz. She insisted that Glinda was manipulating Dorothy to assassinate the Wicked Witch of the West and convince the Wizard to leave to create a political void she could fill.

I conceded the issue when I heard the whole premise because I thought it was too damn stupid to get worked up over.

Keep Your Hands to Yourself

Just the other day I legit got in an argument with my co-workers on why I don't like my butt being grabbed by anyone (I'm a guy). Seriously.

They went on about "I don't mind it. Mike and I do it all the time and we don't care." Yeah, that's nice dude, but I'm not you, and there's something called "Keep your hands to yourself" (which was taught to a good portion of us growing up). Just like how Karen wouldn't like it if I touched her boobs or her grabbing your crotch or frankly ANY area you wouldn't like being grabbed, keep away. In general, you should not be touching me in any areas after I've told you not to several times before.

Telekinesis

My best friend and I argued over whether or not telekinesis was possible. Her argument was that humans don't yet know what the human brain at 100% usage was capable of, and that telekinesis was inside the possibilities.

Ghosts

How dolphins reproduced and whether or not ghost existed (back to back with the same person). It took me a few solid minutes of explaining to her that dolphins have reproductive organs and that they did not just pop into existence (the argument began with her saying she wanted to work with sea creatures).

How it shifted to the existence of ghosts is a solid and reasonable question to ask (I don't remember why). I had to then proceed to tell her that ghost hunting TV shows do not constitute as undeniable evidence.

Personally, I hope she was messing with me cause I lost a little faith in humanity that day. This was in high school SO... hopefully she was kidding.

Dogs and Chocolate

I told this stupid woman that chocolate is toxic to dogs. She went on to tell me how a little bit will just make them hyper and then they will calm down. I told her to google it. Her and her bf shut right up. Now they have a kid. Good luck, Jeremy and Andrea. morons.

I should also add that this argument started because Jeremy was giving his tiny dog chocolate and I told him it was toxic.

Is water wet?

Mission Trip

A kid a church telling me about the mission trip I went on. Not only was I not on that trip, but I had never been on any mission trip. We were good friends, so it's not like he would've mistaken someone else for me.

He insisted I was there as if an entire week long trip would just fall out of my memory. He even had stories of things we'd done together. I'm not sure if he thought I was lying, joking, stupid, or crazy, but I was pretty sure he was some combination thereof.

Dragon Tales

One time I got into a shouting match with my mom and little brother in the car. The issue? The names of the two-headed dragon from the PBS kids afternoon show Dragon Tales. I swore it was Zack and Macie.

It was actually Zak and Wheezie. I don't even remember why we were yelling about it.

Green Or Yellow?

When I was about 15 or so my mother and I spent about 20-30 minutes arguing about the color of a shirt. We agreed it was blue/green, but to me it was just a shade more blue, while to her it was just a bit more green.

Turns out, your eyeballs yellow as you age and hers were 24 years yellower than mine, so I think that skewed her color vision.

Stars In Their Multitude

I once got in an argument over whether or not a line from the song "Stars" in Les Mis says "...but mine is the way of the lord" or "mine is the way of the law".

I didn't even really care what he thought but he was so adamant and cocky that it got me heated. By the end of it we were shouting at each other and I had to apologize, which I think is what he wanted the whole time.

Biology Class

I had an argument with a girl IN THE MIDDLE OF A BIOLOGY CLASS in high school about how humans are not mammals. She thought a human was a human and we are not mammals because "mammals are animals and humans are not animals"

I tried explaining to her the difference between reptiles and mammals and how humans fall under the mammal category to try and educate her... but she just wouldn't listen.

Solid Or Liquid?

Some classmates and I got into a heated debate as to whether or not the human body could count as a soup, salad, or sandwich. The teacher got mad at us, but hey! All we were doing was watching a movie.

For the record, my logic lays with soup- Liquid contained within a solid, at a hot temperature.